Meaning & use
a pear
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A sweet, juicy fruit with a green, yellow, or brown skin and a round bottom that narrows toward the stem.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a pear', 'two pears', or 'some pear' when talking about the fruit in general.
Patterns
- eat a pear
- a pear tree
- pear juice
She packed a pear in her lunch bag.
This pear is very ripe and sweet.
We picked pears from the tree in the garden.
Word forms
| plural | pears |
|---|
Common combinations
- a pear tree
- The old pear tree still gives fruit every autumn.
- pear-shaped
- The vase is pear-shaped and quite elegant.
- peel a pear
- He peeled a pear and shared it with his sister.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fruit
- Fruit is the general word for this kind of food; pear is the specific name.
Word family
- pear-shaped adjective
- Having the shape of a pear, wider at the bottom.
Commonly confused: a pear or pair? a pear or pare?
a pear vs pair
A pair means two things that go together, like a pair of shoes. A pear is the fruit.
a pear vs pare
Pare is a verb meaning to cut away the skin or outer layer, as in 'pare an apple'.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The fruit is spelled 'pear'. 'Pair' means two of something, 'pare' is a verb, and 'peir' is not a word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a pear”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.